What was that strange noise on the roof of our caravan this morning? Sounded like rain, thought I...and yes, that's what it was. Lots of it. But, not a problem, as shopping was on the agenda today! Kees and Airdrie were off to a YOPPERS meeting and because it was again going to be in Dutch, we thought it would be easier for Kees to let us know what went on when they returned in the evening. Airdrie carefully printed on a little piece of paper what we were to tell the ticket seller at the train in order for us to get home safely and off we went. Utrecht was full of people. There was an open air market, lots of stores and lots to see. We happily did the tourist thing all afternoon and when we could walk no further, headed to the train station. With the help of our little piece of paper (I don't know what it is about me and trying to speak Dutch, but somehow it always seems to elicit gales of laughter from those who hear me....) we purchased tickets for the Train and the Traintaxi, and boarded. It's a good thing Al noticed that the lady sitting beside us had Maarssveen on her ticket too, because otherwise we would have missed our stop. Then when we got into the Traintaxi, the man in the front seat had a heated argument with the taxi driver, who tried to tell him that because Al and I and the other lady in the back seat were going in a direction opposite to him we would be dropped off first. He became more and more agitated, so the three of us in the back seat were requested to get out and wait for another taxi..........which came fairly quickly so, no problem. I almost forgot to ask for our little piece of paper with our destination written on it from the taxi driver . We got into the new taxi and gave him the destination. After several minutes in the car, he turned to us and said, " I can't take you to there, the roads all around are closed. There's been a shooting, and the police are looking for the criminal. They've closed all the roads." With that, he drove to a police barricade and told us, "This is it. As far as I can take you." So, we got out at an intersection full of perhaps 50 motorbikes complete with bearded and leatherjacketed riders, many cars, a police van and two police 'persons' stopping and rerouting cars. We looked at each other, "Now what?" Suddenly, the motorcyles were mounted, engines started, and driven away, they must have been given the OK. We showed the policeman our little piece of paper and asked him what we should do. He pointed to a piece of grass and said, "Sit there. It should be all over in half an hour, then you can go to where you are staying." Great. When that time had passed, things still didn't look too optimistic, so we asked the policeman again. He let us use his phone to call Kees, who was worried about us. He and Airdrie had returned home from their meeting just before the barricades were set up and now they couldn't get out of the blockaded area and we couldn't get in......Another half hour passed...... There was lots to see, I just wish I understood Dutch, plain clothes policemen coming and going, motorcylce policemen roaring through, pedestrians, bicyclists, walkers, cars, being turned away......We sat on the grass munching the candies we'd luckily bought....front row centre seats to the event! We got a few clues as to what was going on when a man walked by and we heard him speaking English to the policeman, we called to him and found out he was from Albany, New York of all places. Finally the message came through that they could open the roads up. The policewoman came over to us and asked if we'd like a ride in the police van to where we were staying. "Sure!" we replied. It turned out that she'd volunteered to drive us home because she had to use the bathroom.....The other roadblocks hadn't been opened yet, so when we drove up to them we had to drive by other people who were still being held back.......lots of curious looks as Al and I sped past. You can imagine the faces of the Paap family as their guests arrived home in a police van! We had a good laugh as the policewoman used the washroom and Al and I got our picture taken in front of her van. We all agreed it was a good thing this hadn't happened tomorrow afternoon during the sponsorwalk.......... that would have been a most memorable event! I think we're up to 150 registrations. Please write to Kees' email if you would like to help out. To those of you who have written already, we will get back to you ASAP. Here's hoping for a sunny, exciting day tomorrow! Lynda ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Kees Paap Oudedijk 56 | 3612 AC Tienhoven The Netherlands | +31 3469 1021 FAX + 31 3469 1017 | ====================================================| Age 45, 6 years PD, Sinemet 25/100 CR 3/day, Permax 1 mg 3/day | Sinemet 12,5/50 if necessary. Love working (120/week) | Collecting information BBS +31 3469 1017. | ==================================================|